Finally

By Kat Yuy

Author's Note: The inspiration of this fanfic was taken from a scene in Gundam Wing Ground Zero: #1. I added onto it, but I just wanted to point that out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. I am not receiving any form of payment for the creation of this fanfic. This is for non-profit entertainment purposes only.

December 26, AC 195

Heero sat on the windowsill, looking out at the Earth. He remembered looking out to the Earth as a child, knowing that he'd be going on the mission one day. Seven years of training he'd gone through…and every night, before bed, he'd always set some time aside to look at his eventual destination. Before the emotion training, he'd occasionally write poetry about it. The waiting, the excitement, the worry…and the Earth itself, of course. It was beautiful. Everything there was real, unlike the artificial life on the space colonies he'd grown up on.

And the beauty of it, even from space, made him want to cry.

He'd been trained not to cry. Doctor J hadn't done that to be cruel, but because if he cried in the middle of a battlefield, he might fail to notice an enemy creeping up behind him. Furthermore, the old scientist had said, the noise would draw an enemy closer to him.

"Fine then," nine-year-old Heero had replied heatedly. "Fine, I won't cry, but when the war is finally over, I'm gonna go into an isolated area and cry like a baby!"

It was starting to sink in now. The war was over. It was really over. Finally…after all that waiting, his hard work had paid off!

Heero waited for the joy to come bubbling up. It didn't. He felt nothing. No pride in his work. It felt as if nothing had changed.

He remembered the suppressed tears throughout his harsh training, and tried to use the pain as a tool. It didn't work. He couldn't cry. There was pain, but nothing to let it out with.

Slowly, he let depression sink in and looked down at his arm, which crossed over his chest, still covered with the spacesuit he'd been fighting in, looking away from the Earth.

The door hissed open and he didn't look up. It was probably Duo or Trowa, coming to ask why he didn't come out and join in the celebration that was going on outside. There'd be music, laughter, maybe a little bit of the expensive champagne Quatre and Duo had been arguing about (since alcohol didn't seem to be all that bad to the God of Death, but the Arabian had some serious issues with the legal drug). He was prepared to tell them that parties didn't suit him. He didn't like crowds. He liked his privacy. It was a lonely way to live, but he was used to it.

"Heero?" a hopeful voice said.

He turned and felt his heart beat a little bit faster at the sound of her voice. She'd come back here—probably not even to get him to join in the fun, probably just because she wanted to see him. The thought by itself brought the happiness that he thought he'd lost, but he knew it couldn't happen. He'd get in her way. "Relena," he said finally, unsure of what else to say.

The European girl started walking closer. "The war is over now," she said.

"I know," he replied.

"You won't have to kill anyone ever again," she added. She stopped where she was standing, just two feet away from him.

He looked back at the Earth. "Probably not." He hoped not. He'd never say it out loud, but the wars had depressed him.

Relena let a moment of silence pass, then asked softly, "So what are you going to do?"

Heero turned towards her again. He thought for a moment, then answered as honestly as he could. "I've never lived in a world without war," he admitted. "But I thought…that maybe I'd TRY to live in this one." He felt the unvoiced questions float between them. How would he support himself? Where would he live? He closed his Prussian blue eyes. "But that's all I can say for now."

Relena seemed to get one of her impulsive ideas, placing a hand on her heart. "Then you can come with me…" She stopped. He didn't look back at her, but he did hope. "No," she sighed, sitting next to him, her light brown hair swinging slightly. "That would be too much to ask."

No, he thought. It wouldn't have. He'd be more than willing to stay with her if she only asked him to. He'd work as her bodyguard, her assistant, whatever she asked.

She smiled at him, and he felt again that he had a friend in the world, and things didn't seem quite so bad. "This is best, Heero," she told him. "You should see with your own eyes, this world without war that you helped to make."

"Relena…" he started, then stopped. He couldn't tell her. So he left it like that.

They sat in silence for a whole five minutes. Both were exhausted from their own battles, Heero's more physical and Relena's more emotional. But something told Heero that it wasn't time to sleep. There was something that needed to be done…

"Why…" he began slowly. "…why aren't you at the party?"

"Hm," she said, flipping her hair back. "It didn't feel right, celebrating the end of the war without the one who saved the Earth. Without my friend."

He felt his emotions starting to return, even if just for a few moments. "So you came back here because you felt guilty for leaving me here?" he asked.

"Not exactly. More because I felt like I didn't belong back there as much as I did here with you right now."

He nodded. "I didn't feel like going off and getting drunk. I can tell that Duo was planning on that, and probably Trowa was, too."

Relena grinned. "Duo was getting…well pretty goofy." He looked towards her and she elaborated. "You know, dancing on the tables, singing in a loud, high, nasal voice like a boy band member. Talking a lot. And drinking, too, though I doubt he's drunk. He seems to always act like that."

"Quatre win the argument over the amount of alcohol in the champagne?" he asked. He felt a smirk coming to his lips and didn't try to hide it.

Relena's smile broadened when she saw he was smiling, too, even if it wasn't very much. "They compromised."

Heero nodded again, understanding.

Then Relena asked her own question. "Did Doctor J and the other four die?"

Heero hesitated. "I don't know. I don't know how they could have, but I got this…" He pulled something out of a zippered pocket and showed it to her. "It's Japanese, but it says that I've inherited…quite a bit of money from him. I got this just a few minutes ago. I think that he instructed someone to give it to me, and he's going to retire somewhere where no one can find him."

Relena handed it back to him. "And you know Treize is dead?"

"I heard. How's Une taking it?"

"She didn't cry or anything." Relena glanced out the window at a bit of debris from the battle. Heero felt his heart sink a bit. Both of them knew who else was out there, floating dead.

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop Zechs from dying," he whispered.

"No." She let a few tears fall down her face, then wiped them away. "My brother brought that upon himself. It was not your responsibility. And I do not blame you."

"But—" he began, but she held up a hand to silence him. "Relena—"

"Not another word on the subject," she said calmly. "Not another word." They both fell silent for a while.

"Who do you think won?" he asked. She looked up at him in surprise. He continued, "Both sides lost many men. So many people died. There were three groups at work there…OZ, White Fang, and…us. White Fang has dissolved. OZ lost their leader. But did we really win? Did anyone win? After all, Une's still alive. The people who worked on Treize's side won't be executed, nor will anyone still living from White Fang." Dorothy would not be named. She wasn't the only one, after all. "I don't understand," he added. "It shouldn't have been this confusing."

Relena seemed to consider it. "No one won, I guess. Maybe we should call this a compromise as well. We get our new government, but they keep their lives, and some of them will keep their positions."

"Seems fair enough," Heero said carefully. "And what about you?"

She shrugged. "There's talk that they'll need a new Vice-Foreign Minister to the Colonies." She smiled at him. "Think I should go back into politics?"

He closed his eyes, leaning back against the glass of the window. "I think you'd be an excellent Foreign Minister," he said softly, letting his eyes open slightly. "You've gained the colonies' trust as well as Earth's."

She stared at him. "Have I?" He nodded. "How do you know?"

He placed a hand over hers. "Because I trust you." He saw a look half-way between relief and confusion in her eyes. "Let me explain. I was going to kill you because Romefeller was using you. Then I saw that you wanted to make peace with the colonies, and at the last minute, I made the decision not to pull the trigger on you. Because you wanted to be fair. And I'm sure that the majority of the population shares my judgment."

She nodded, understanding him now. "But what about that minority?"

"Oh," he said with a shrug. "There'll always be a few who don't agree. But they'll come around."

"When?" she asked.

"When they see how well you do." He paused. The two of them were so close…if he only moved just a little bit closer…his two minds battled briefly over what to do, and finally, he kissed her on the forehead lightly. She looked surprised, but not appalled. He whispered, "You've gotten to be so much stronger than you were just a few months ago. You went from a schoolgirl to a queen in less than a year…isn't that amazing? You see what you are capable of? They will, too. I can promise you that much."

"Thanks," she said softly.

There seemed nothing else to be said. Well, there was one thing…but Heero wasn't ready to reveal that to Relena. His mind whirred. Still, this silence was unnerving. What if…?

Suddenly, she pulled him to his feet. "The party's still going," she told him, grinning again. "Heero, please just try to enjoy yourself."

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Right. Let's go."

The two of them walked out into the hall, Relena half-dragging Heero to the room where everyone was celebrating…

Owari